Transcribe
Translate
Acolyte, v. 2, issue 2, whole no. 6, Spring 1944
31858063101376_010
More information
digital collection
archival collection guide
transcription tips
that one could not help wondering whence the inspiration had come. It was easy to credit the boast of one of the booklets that this jewelry was a favorite with persons of sophisticated taste, and that several specimens were exhibited in museums of modern craftmanship. Large pieces predominated--armlets, tiaras, and elaborate pendants--but rings and lesser pieces were numerous. The raised or incised designs, partly conventional and partly with a curious marine motif, were wrought in a style of tremendous distinctiveness and of utter dissimilarity to the art traditions of any race or epoch I knew about. This other worldly character was emphasized by the oddness of the precious alloy, whose general effect was suggested in several colour-plates. Something about these printed things fascinated me intensely--almost disproportionately --and I resolved to see as many original specimens as possible both at Innsmouth and in shops and museums elsewhere. Yet there was a distinct element of repulsion mixed with fascination; proceeding, perhaps, from the evil and silly old legends about the founder of the business which the ticket agent had told me. ***************** ....The door of the Marsh retail office was open, and I walked in with considerable expectancy. The interior was shabby and ill-lighted, but contained a large number of display cases of solid and capable construction. A youngish man came forward to meet me, and as I studied his face a fresh wave of disturbance passed over me. He was not unhandsome, but there was something subtly bizarre and abhorrent about his features and vocal timbre. I could not stifle a sudden keen aversion, and acquired an unexplained reluctance to seem like any sort of curious investigator. Before I knew it Ifound myself telling the fellow that I was a jewelry buyer for a Cleveland firm, and preparing myself to show a merely professional interest in what I should see. It was hard, though, to carry out this policy. The clerk switched on more lights and began to lead me from case to case, but when I beheld the glittering marvels before me I could scarcely walk steadily or talk coherently. It took no excessive sensitiveness to beauty to make one literally gasp at the strange, alien loveliness of these opulent objects, and as I gazed fascinatedly I saw how little justice even the colour plates had done them. Even now I can hardly describe what I saw--- though those who own such pieces or have seen them in shops and museums can supply the missing data. The massed effect of so many elaborate samples was what produced my especial feeling of awe and unrest. For somehow or other, these singular grotesques and arabesques did not seem to be the product of any earthly handicraft--- least of all of a factory only a stone's throw away. The patterns and traceries all hinted at remote spaces and unimaginable abysses, and the aquatic nature of the occasional pictorial items added to the general unearthliness. Some of the fabulous monsters filled me with an uncomfortable sense of dark pseud-memory which I tried... ***************** ...the taint and blasphemy of furtive Innsmouth. He, like me, was a normal being outside the pall of decay and normally terrified by it. But because he was so inextricably close to the thing, he had been broken in a way that I was not yet broken. Shaking off the hands of the firemen who sought to detain him, the ancient rose to his feet and greeted me as if I were an acquaintance. The grocery youth had told me where most of Uncle Zadok's liquor was obtained, and without a word I began leading him in that direction--through the square and around into Eliot Street. My haste to leave Innsmouth had abated for the moment, and I felt instead a queer curiosity to dip into this mumbling patriarch's chaotic store of extravagent wit. His step was astonishingly brisk for one of his age and bibulousness, and I marvelled at the original strength of his constitution. When we had bought a quart of whiskey in the rear of a dismal variety store, I led Uncle Zadok along South Street to the utterly abandoned section of the waterfront, and still farther southward to a point where even the fishermen on the distant breakwater could not see us, where I knew we could talk undisturbed. For some reason or other, he seemed to dislike this arrangement--casting nervous glances -- 6 --
Saving...
prev
next
that one could not help wondering whence the inspiration had come. It was easy to credit the boast of one of the booklets that this jewelry was a favorite with persons of sophisticated taste, and that several specimens were exhibited in museums of modern craftmanship. Large pieces predominated--armlets, tiaras, and elaborate pendants--but rings and lesser pieces were numerous. The raised or incised designs, partly conventional and partly with a curious marine motif, were wrought in a style of tremendous distinctiveness and of utter dissimilarity to the art traditions of any race or epoch I knew about. This other worldly character was emphasized by the oddness of the precious alloy, whose general effect was suggested in several colour-plates. Something about these printed things fascinated me intensely--almost disproportionately --and I resolved to see as many original specimens as possible both at Innsmouth and in shops and museums elsewhere. Yet there was a distinct element of repulsion mixed with fascination; proceeding, perhaps, from the evil and silly old legends about the founder of the business which the ticket agent had told me. ***************** ....The door of the Marsh retail office was open, and I walked in with considerable expectancy. The interior was shabby and ill-lighted, but contained a large number of display cases of solid and capable construction. A youngish man came forward to meet me, and as I studied his face a fresh wave of disturbance passed over me. He was not unhandsome, but there was something subtly bizarre and abhorrent about his features and vocal timbre. I could not stifle a sudden keen aversion, and acquired an unexplained reluctance to seem like any sort of curious investigator. Before I knew it Ifound myself telling the fellow that I was a jewelry buyer for a Cleveland firm, and preparing myself to show a merely professional interest in what I should see. It was hard, though, to carry out this policy. The clerk switched on more lights and began to lead me from case to case, but when I beheld the glittering marvels before me I could scarcely walk steadily or talk coherently. It took no excessive sensitiveness to beauty to make one literally gasp at the strange, alien loveliness of these opulent objects, and as I gazed fascinatedly I saw how little justice even the colour plates had done them. Even now I can hardly describe what I saw--- though those who own such pieces or have seen them in shops and museums can supply the missing data. The massed effect of so many elaborate samples was what produced my especial feeling of awe and unrest. For somehow or other, these singular grotesques and arabesques did not seem to be the product of any earthly handicraft--- least of all of a factory only a stone's throw away. The patterns and traceries all hinted at remote spaces and unimaginable abysses, and the aquatic nature of the occasional pictorial items added to the general unearthliness. Some of the fabulous monsters filled me with an uncomfortable sense of dark pseud-memory which I tried... ***************** ...the taint and blasphemy of furtive Innsmouth. He, like me, was a normal being outside the pall of decay and normally terrified by it. But because he was so inextricably close to the thing, he had been broken in a way that I was not yet broken. Shaking off the hands of the firemen who sought to detain him, the ancient rose to his feet and greeted me as if I were an acquaintance. The grocery youth had told me where most of Uncle Zadok's liquor was obtained, and without a word I began leading him in that direction--through the square and around into Eliot Street. My haste to leave Innsmouth had abated for the moment, and I felt instead a queer curiosity to dip into this mumbling patriarch's chaotic store of extravagent wit. His step was astonishingly brisk for one of his age and bibulousness, and I marvelled at the original strength of his constitution. When we had bought a quart of whiskey in the rear of a dismal variety store, I led Uncle Zadok along South Street to the utterly abandoned section of the waterfront, and still farther southward to a point where even the fishermen on the distant breakwater could not see us, where I knew we could talk undisturbed. For some reason or other, he seemed to dislike this arrangement--casting nervous glances -- 6 --
Hevelin Fanzines
sidebar
